Writes of Passage

10 Columbus Cir, 3rd Flr
New York, NY 10019

Probably will return?

Been here before for a tea, loved their view and casual attitude. It’s just right for us, before a 3pm concert.

I enjoyed my spicy mint tea and smoked salmon (lox), but the sliced cucumber are old, and their service could have been a little more attentive – like not wet my phone when putting down the tea pot with hot water for my tea. Not sure I heard “I’m sorry” …

My friend said it’s the best French toast ever. Maybe it is or maybe bec I was paying … Overall, the food is good …

On a Black Friday

1953 Coney Island Ave
Brooklyn, NY 11223

Turkish, Middle Eastern, Mediterranean.

Will return.

Inviting ambience, delicious food and good service.

7pm on a Friday evening, we were seated right away. A waiting staff was examining two wine glass against the light and when he was satisfied, he put on our table, which was next to their glass cabinet. Throughout the evening, more glasses were added to the cabinet and inspected before being placed on the tables. I thought about the dirty fork at Half Moon the other day … the devil is in the details.

Although all the food we ordered and shared were delicious, but the tender cubical calf liver is worth an extra shout: for I rarely eat inside stuff and they were yummy.

We finished two bottles of red: you can bring your own wine. Not sure they charge corkage. Before we left, they surprised us with a huge plate of fruits.

Thank you so much!!

Street parking, free after 7pm.

1 High St
Dobbs Ferry, NY 10522

Won’t return.

Great view, large portion, lousy and very very slow service.

We arrived at 1:09 pm on a weekday. Only a few tables.
I asked the staff to change my unused but dirty fork. They never bothered to bring a clean one.
Delicious warn bread.
Our appetizers were finally serviced at 1:51.
The portion is simply big.
I got up and walked around, after failing to get them to serve us.
…
The French fries is pretty yummy and I ate a lot of it.
We finally left, two full hours later.

China

The quality of western wine in China is visibly better this time. But the labels are still being wrapped …

Tangshan Chile Kenos from Central Valley: Chardonnay (2016; 4.0) and Tempranillo (2017; 3.6). Both have ratings (based on all vintages ) on vivino but no price.

Chengdu

Chongqing – didn’t try. Mondavi Private Selection Cabernet Sauvignon 2012 is $6.99 but it’s ¥268 in the shop, which is about $38. Mondavi 50th Anniversary Cab 2014 is $28 in US but costs ¥698 which is about $100.

3 Aomen Rd, Heping, 澳门路3号
Tianjin, China

Don’t be fooled by the name, it’s a Thai restaurant. Cozy and pretty cute. We had lunch there when visiting Zhou’s former residence – which is on the ground floor of the building. The food n service are ok, above average.

Macau Road 澳门路
Tianjin, China

From the Museum, we drove to Aomen Lu from Luoyang Road 洛阳道, visited Zhou Xuexi’s former home, a row of red brick buildings – 900 meters NE of Changde Dao. Zhou had four buildings but many had been demolished.

It’s built in 1915 and Zhou lived here for 30 some years. Zhou passed away in 1947 in Beijing where he also maintained homes.

At the curb of Luoyang and Aomen, there is a street vendor selling veggies. A popular restaurant 粤园 operates on the ground level. From the name I’d think it’s a Cantonese but it’s Thai.

NE corner 经四路 纬二路
合肥市庐江县幸福港湾主题酒店
Lujiang, Hefei

Nearly two hours drive from the Hefei South rail station (70 km). The restaurant is next to Morning Market 晨光农贸. They kindly displayed a banner as a warm welcome, oh boy. The owner is a distant relative, who sweated in Wenzhou before coming home to open up his own shop. The cucumber cold appetizer is really good, look and texture wise. And I taste for the first time, their local rice dumplings, which is fried.

Raffles City 8 Jiesheng St.,
ChongQing, China

The supermarket is pretty up scale on Chaotianmen Docks. I bought green cheese and frozen durian (300g ¥60). The wines, although on the expensive side but look genuine.

Lubei District 路北区, 启新1889工业园区内
Tangshan, China

This themed restaurant is inside the compound of Qixin Cement Museum 中国水泥工业博物馆北. The organizer was very thoughtful and treated me to a lunch at Zhou’s Room 周公馆, which is in honor of my great granduncle Zhou Xuexi. Looking out the window I saw a train passing by. The foods are delicious and nicely presented. The photos of Thunderstorm (雷雨 Leiyu) is also a very nice touch because it’s claimed the play by Cao Yu (曹禺) was based on the Zhou.

Of the Qixin Museum in Tangshan